Wide World Of Web Design

Apache2Triad : Open-source software distribution for developing dynamic web content on Windows.

When, or if, you decide to become a freelance web designer, you’ll be faced with the decision to get a grasp of the server side of things, whether you really want to or not. Clients will ultimately want dynamic pages and functionality beyond what a static website can provide, and the fact is, that’s really where the bread and butter is now as the popularity of eCommerce, Blogs, and Content Management Systems has taken off in the 21st Century.

When I got started in web design my initial plans were to fully immerse myself in a world of visual creativity, and although I had a little experience with SQL and Microsoft Access, I typically steered clear of programming as much as possible (what the heck is C+ ?) … not my cup of tea really.

Well, in a nutshell, I soon found out there’s only one avenue to go down if you’re a non-programming web designer faced with having to knuckle down and produce database driven websites … PHP and MySQL. You can go to the respective websites for both of these applications to learn all about them, but the fact is, they are part of the Open Source initiative which has made available a wide range of programs developed, scripted, and made available to anyone under the GNU General Public License (GPL). But more on that in another post. For now though, you’ll need to get somewhat familiar with PHP and MySQL so you can perform some of your own customization and editing when deploying a client’s online store, or Login Members Area, or any number of dynamic applications.

If you’re a windows user like me, you’re going to need a Test Server environment that replicates the actual server the site would be hosted on, and includes Linux (operating system) Apache (web server) MySQL (database) and PHP (programming language). Besides editing Open-source programs this is especially useful for making use of the Server Behaviors that come with Dreamweaver …

Now you can Download Apache2Triad here and get started making those dynamic webites !